the national information infrastructure-agenda for action.txt

1000 HOWTOs for various needs [WINDOWS]

         flexibility in technical and service standards, and
         increased choices for licensees in employing their assigned
         spectrum.

         Action:  Promote market principles in spectrum distribution. 
         Further, the Administration will continue to support
         policies that place a greater reliance on market principles
         in distributing spectrum, particularly in the assignment
         process, as a superior way to apportion this scarce resource
         among the widely differing wireless services that will be a
         part of the NII.  At the same time, the Administration will
         develop policies to ensure that entrepreneurs and small,
         rural, minority- and women-owned businesses are able to
         participate in spectrum auctions.                                    

7.       Protect Intellectual Property Rights

         Development of an advanced information infrastructure will
create unprecedented market opportunities and new challenges for
our world-preeminent media and information industries.  The broad
public interest in promoting the dissemination of information to
our citizens must be balanced with the need to ensure the
integrity of intellectual property rights and copyrights in
information and entertainment products.  This protection is
crucial if these products -- whether in the form of text, images,
computer programs, databases, video or sound recordings, or
multimedia formats -- are to move in commerce using the full
capability of the NII.

         Action:  Examine the adequacy of copyright laws.  The IITF
         will investigate how to strengthen domestic copyright laws
         and international intellectual property treaties to prevent
         piracy and to protect the integrity of intellectual
         property.  To ensure broad access to information via the
         NII, the IITF will study how traditional concepts of fair
         use should apply with respect to new media and new works.

         Action:  Explore ways to identify and reimburse copyright
         owners.  The IITF will explore the need for standards for
         the identification of copyright ownership of information
         products in electronic systems (e.g., electronic headers,
         labels or signature techniques).  The Task Force will also
         evaluate the need to develop an efficient system for the
         identification, licensing, and use of work, and for the
         payment of royalties for copyrighted products delivered or
         made available over electronic information systems.  

8.       Coordinate with Other Levels of Governmental and With Other
         Bodies

         Domestic:  Many of the firms that will likely participate in
the NII are now subject to regulation by Federal, state, and
local government agencies.  If the information infrastructure is
to develop quickly and coherently, there must be close
coordination among the various government entities, particularly
with respect to regulatory policy.  It is crucial that all
government bodies -- particularly Congress, the FCC, the
Administration, and state and local governments -- work
cooperatively to forge regulatory principles that will promote
deployment of the NII.

         Action:  Seek ways to improve coordination with state and
         local officials.  The IITF will meet with state and local
         officials to discuss policy issues related to development of
         the NII.  The Task Force will also seek input from the
         private sector and non-federal agencies as it devises
         proposals for regulatory reform.  The Administration is
         committed to working closely with state and local
         governments in developing its telecommunications policies.

         International:  The NII also will develop in the context of
evolving global networks.  Because customers typically demand
that U.S. communications providers offer services on a global
basis, it is critical that the infrastructure within this country
can meet international, as well as domestic, requirements. 

         Action:  Open up overseas markets.  The Administration has
         shown its willingness to work directly on behalf of U.S.
         firms to ensure that they have an equal opportunity to
         export telecommunications-related goods and services to
         potential overseas customers.  For example, the Commerce
         Department is developing new export control policies
         governing computers and telecommunications equipment
         manufactured by U.S. firms.  These changes will remove
         export restrictions on many of these products and permit
         U.S. manufacturers to enter new markets not previously
         available to them.  The Administration will continue to work
         to open overseas markets for U.S. services and products.

         Action:  Eliminate barriers caused by incompatible
         standards.  Equally important is the need to avoid trade
         barriers raised by incompatible U.S. and foreign standards
         or -- more subtly -- between the methods used to test
         conformance to standards.  Through its participation in
         international standards committees, the Administration is
         working to eliminate or avert such barriers.

         Action:  Examine international and U.S. trade regulations. 
         The IITF will coordinate the Administration's examination of
         policy issues related to the delivery of telecommunications
         services to and from the U.S., including claims by some U.S.
         companies that regulatory practices in foreign countries --
         including denial of market access for U.S. carriers and the
         imposition of excessive charges for completing calls from
         the United States -- are harming the competitiveness of the
         industry and the costs charged to U.S. customers for
         service.  The IITF also will reexamine U.S. regulation of
         international telecommunications services.

9.       Provide Access to Government Information and Improve
         Government Procurement

         Thomas Jefferson said that information is the currency of
democracy.  Federal agencies are among the most prolific
collectors and generators of information that is useful and
valuable to citizens and business.  Improvement of the nation's
information infrastructure provides a tremendous opportunity to
improve the delivery of government information to the taxpayers
who paid for its collection; to provide it equitably, at a fair
price, as efficiently as possible.

         The Federal government is improving every step of the
process of information collection, manipulation, and
dissemination.  The Administration is funding research programs
that will improve the software used for browsing, searching,
describing, organizing, and managing information.  But it is
committed as well to applying those tools to the distribution of
information that can be useful to the public in their various
roles as teachers, researchers, businesspeople, consumers, etc.

         The key questions that must be addressed are:  What
information does the public want?  What information is in
electronic form?  By what means can it be distributed?  How can
all Americans have access to it?  A secondary question is:  How
can government itself improve through better information
management?

         Action:  Improve the accessibility of government
         information.  IITF working groups will carefully consider
         the problems associated with making government information
         broadly accessible to the public electronically.   
         Additionally, several inter-agency efforts have been started
         to ensure that the right information is stored and
         available.  Finally, to help the public find government
         information, an inter-agency project has been formed to
         develop a virtual card catalogue that will indicate the
         availability of government information in whatever form it
         takes.

         Action:  Upgrade the infrastructure for the delivery of
         government information.  The Federal government has already
         taken a number of steps to promote wider distribution of its
         public reports.  Legislation has been enacted to improve
         electronic dissemination of government documents by the
         Government Printing Office.  A number of Federal agencies
         have moved aggressively to convert their public information
         into electronic form and disseminate it over the Internet,
         where it will be available to many more people than have
         previously had access to such information.  In the future,
         substantial improvements will be made to "FedWorld," an
         electronic bulletin board established by the Department of
         Commerce's National Technical Information Service (NTIS),
         which links the public with more than 100 Federal bulletin
         boards and information centers.  These improvements will
         enhance FedWorld's ability to distribute to the public
         scientific, technical, and business-related information
         generated by the U.S. Government and other sources. 
         Finally, a conference will be held in the Fall of 1993 to
         begin teaching Federal employees how they can use these
         distribution mechanisms.

         Action:  Enhance citizen access to government information. 
         In June 1993, OMB prescribed new polices pertaining to the
         acquisition, use, and distribution of government information
         by Federal agencies.  Among other things, the policies
         mandate that, in distributing information to the public,
         Federal agencies should recoup only those costs associated
         with the dissemination of that information, not with its
         creation or collection.  Moreover, a number of inter-agency
         efforts are under way to afford greater public access to
         government information.  One project seeks to turn thousands
         of local and field offices of various Federal agencies into
         Interactive Citizen Participation Centers, at which citizens
         can communicate with the public affairs departments of all
         Federal agencies.

         Action:  Strengthen inter-agency coordination through the
         use of electronic mail.  To implement the National
         Performance Review's recommendation on expanded use of
         electronic mail within the Federal government, an inter-
         agency coordinating body has been established to incorporate
         electronic mail into the daily work environment of Federal
         workers.  The group is also sponsoring three pilot projects
         to expand connectivity that will build a body of experience
         that other Federal agencies can draw on when they begin to
         use electronic mail.


         Action:  Reform the Federal procurement process to make
         government a leading-edge technology adopter.  The Federal
         government is the largest single buyer of high technology
         products.  The government has played a key role in
         developing emerging markets for advanced technologies of
         military significance; it can be similarly effective for
         civilian technologies.  The Administration will implement
         the procurement policy reforms set forth in the National
         Performance Review report.

VI.  America's Destiny is Linked to our Information
Infrastructure

         The principles and goals outlined in this document provide a
blueprint for government action on the NII.  Applying them will
ensure that government provides constructive assistance to U.S.
industry, labor, academia and private citizens as they develop,
deploy and use the infrastructure.

         The potential benefits for the nation are immense.  The NII
will enable U.S. firms to compete and win in the global economy,
generating good jobs for the American people and economic growth
for the nation.  As importantly, the NII promises to transform
the lives of the American people.  It can ameliorate the
constraints of geography and economic status, and give all
Americans a fair opportunity to go as far as their talents and
ambitions will take them.                              TAB C                BE
                NATIONAL INFORMATION INFRASTRUCTURE


         The development of the National Information Infrastructure
is not an end in itself; it is a means by which the United States
can achieve a broad range of economic and social goals.  Although
the NII is not a "silver bullet" for all of the problems we face,
it can make an important contribution to our most pressing
economic and social challenges.  

         This infrastructure can be used by all Americans, not just
by scientists and engineers.  As entrepreneurs, factory workers,
doctors, teachers, federal employees, and citizens, Americans can
harness this technology to:

         o       Create jobs, spur growth, and foster U.S. technological
                 leadership;

         o       Reduce health care costs while increasing the quality
                 of service in underserved areas;

         o       Deliver higher-quality, lower-cost government services;

         o       Prepare our children for the fast-paced workplace of
                 the 21st century; and

         o       Build a more open and participatory democracy at all
                 levels of government.